| | 9 letters relate to psychology - insomnia... | Excerpt length: shorter longer | |
| Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh
(c. 15-17 June 1883)
... money somewhat sooner if
possible.
I shall again sleep little tonight because of the drawing;
but it is very cozy smoking a pipe in the night, when
everything is quiet; and daybreak and sunrise are wonderful.
Well, boy, send the money soon if you can. Good luck.
Adieu.
Yours sincerely, Vincent
... | Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh
(c. 11 July 1883)
... last year is quite on the
cards.
Last year, when I had recovered but couldn't sleep and was
feverish myself, I too had moments when I felt like forcing
myself to do some work, and I did do a few things, but thank
God not too absurdly large, which later I couldn't believe I
had done. That's why I believe B. will be all right again, but
I do find this stuff ridiculous.
A watercolour study of some small birch trees in the dunes,
which was much better and had nothing abnormal about it, lay
crumpled in a corner. But his large things are no good.
At Van der Weele's I saw another very ugly one by him, as
well as a very good head, but a portrait of Van der Weele he
had started was another bad one. Thus he is hard at it making a
fine old mess and on a very large scale. I do at times like the
work of Hoffmann and Edgar Poe (the Fantastic Tales,
Raven, etc.) but I find Breitner's stuff objectionable because
the imagination behind it is clumsy and meaningless and has
... | Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh
(late September 1884)
... when I am almost
paralyzed.
I cannot eat, and I cannot sleep - that is to say, not
enough, and that makes one weak.
But I shall get over it again, especially as I have fairly
good news from Utrecht.
But I am still very anxious because I am afraid it will be a
long time before she has entirely recovered.
Perhaps it will be a long time before I get over it too. I
always regret, Theo, that I am standing on one side of a
certain barricade, you on the other, which barricade is not
actually visible any more as a structure of paving
stones, but which certainly does exist socially, and will
continue to do so.
In that lithograph by Daumier or Lemud, whichever it may be,
the principal subject is a person whose story I remember.
There were two brothers, and they were standing on the
same side, and both were killed one after the other, for
the same cause.
That might have occurred in our case, but now I am almost
sure it will... | Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh
(9 January 1889)
... because I eat and digest
well. What is to be feared most is insomnia,
and the doctor has not spoken about it to me, nor have I spoken of it
to him either. But I am fighting it myself.
I fight this insomnia by a very, very strong dose of camphor
in my pillow and mattress, and if ever you can't sleep, I
recommend this to you. I was very much afraid of sleeping alone
in the house, and I have been afraid I should not be able to
sleep. But that is quite over and I dare to think that it will
not reappear. My suffering from this in the hospital was
frightful and yet through it all, even when I was so far gone
that it was more than a swoon, I can tell you as a curiosity
that I kept on thinking about Degas. Gauguin and I had been
talking about Degas before, and I had pointed out to Gauguin
that Degas had said …
“I am saving myself up for the Arlésiennes.”
Now you know how subtle Degas is, so when you get back to
Paris, just tell Degas... |
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